Witnesses testify
Testimony establishes timeline in shooting death of Minot manBy DAVE CALDWELL, Staff Writer dcaldwell@minotdailynews.com
Article Photos
Prosecutors spent Monday calling witnesses who were at the party attended by Joshua Velasquez in the early morning hours of July 29, just before he was shot to death in a nearby alley.
Antonio Stridiron, 32, of Minot, is accused of shooting Velasquez to death immediately after an altercation in which another Minot man, 27-year-old Bradley Davis, allegedly assaulted Velasquez with a bladed garden tool. Stridiron is accused of murder and Davis is accused of aggravated assault in the separate but related cases being tried in front of the same jury in Northwest District Court in Minot.
Testimony seemed to establish a timeline on the day of July 28 that began with the wedding of Davis to his wife, Amy. From there, a reception took place at the Minot Municipal Auditorium, after which several guests headed to Davis' residence at 127-6th St. SE for the opening of wedding gifts.
After that, several people headed to the Original bar in Minot, otherwise known as "The O," for a few hours before a party was held back at Davis' residence. It was at that party, witnesses say, that an extremely intoxicated Velasquez showed up as an unwanted guest and was confronted by partygoers, including Davis himself.
Miranda Lafloe of Minot testified Monday that an announcement was made by Bradley Davis over a microphone system at The O that the party would be taking place after the bar closed and that everybody was invited. Daniela Giovannetti, Kelly Poitra and Jennifer Kaler, all Minot, all also testified Monday that they were invited to the party, although Lafloe was the only one who remembered the microphone announcement.
Accounts concur that guests began to arrive between 1:15 a.m. and 1:30 a.m., and it was a celebratory mood until Velasquez's arrival sometime soon thereafter. Kaler testified that he was confronted first by Stridiron.
"He had a gun and he was pointing it at his face," Kaler said. She said she heard Velasquez saying, "You're not going to shoot me you're not going to shoot me in front of all these people," and using racial slurs. Davis and Stridiron, along with several other partygoers, are black.
The other three witnesses testified that Stridiron came out with a gun, but not until after Velasquez was involved in a fistfight with Derrick Richardson, who was swimming in a pool set up in the backyard. Richardson got back in the pool after the fight, with neither combatant being injured significantly.
"(Richardson) hit him probably five or six times," Giovannetti said. "He was hitting him hard but he wasn't going down. (Velasquez) wasn't really hitting him back, he was more hitting himself in the chest."
Davis' attorney, Josh Rustad, asked Giovannetti about a statement she made equating Velasquez's actions to those of "The Incredible Hulk."
"He was screaming, beating his chest and growling," she said. "He kept saying, 'West Side, West Side.'" Velasquez was originally from California.
Davis then allegedly confronted Velasquez at least once, telling him it was his wedding night and his birthday and asking him to leave. Ironically, Velasquez and Davis share the same birthday, July 29, one year apart.
All of Monday's witnesses testified that Velasquez was asked to leave several times and refused. They also testified that at some point, Davis went into the house and emerged with the garden tool, and Velasquez was eventually struck with it. All the witnesses heard gunshots after a group of people moved across the street into the alley, and all testified they left the scene immediately. None saw who fired the shots.
Poitra said that when she went back to her car about a minute after the gunshots, she saw Stridiron standing in front of his residence at 129, the other half of the duplex shared with Davis. She said she waited until Stridiron went into the house to leave.
Bob Martin, the attorney for Stridiron, attacked the credibility of each of the witnesses on some level. He accused Lafloe of using newspaper accounts to learn Stridiron's name after she testified she didn't know his name at the time of the shooting.
Martin also accused Giovannetti of making a deal with police in exchange for her testimony in order to gain their assistance in dropping a minor criminal charge against her daughter.
Poitra had trouble identifying Stridiron in a photo lineup on Aug. 28, not being able to choose between him and another man, saying she was "unsure."
"What changed since then, except your answer?" Martin asked more than once.
"Nothing," Poitra said.
The trial continues today.
